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FIn recent years, the most noticeable impacts of global warming across the U.S. have been larger and more frequent wildfires in the West, droughts and heat waves in the Southwest, coastal erosion, and increasingly powerful hurricanes hitting the low-lying Florida coast. But the monster storm unleashed by Hurricane Helen, which dumped more than 40 trillion gallons of rain on the Southeast, killing hundreds of people, destroying roads and infrastructure and leaving millions without power, has changed the situation dramatically.

The destruction caused by the worst U.S. storm since Hurricane Katrina was notable not only for its scale but also for its concentration: communities like Asheville and surrounding North Carolina cities, located far inland and at higher elevations, are considered more temperate and are generally perceived as being less vulnerable to extreme weather events. Just as Canada’s huge and brutal wildfires in 2023 demonstrated, the impacts of hotter, drier weather and more intense, stronger and wetter hurricanes fueled by warming oceans that take longer to dissipate over land mean that no region is safe from climate change.

There has been far too little discussion of the climate crisis and the need for the U.S. to accelerate the transition to carbon-free energy in the current presidential election, and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris has offered no new plans to build on or expand on the president’s work Biden through the Inflation Reduction Act and the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Meanwhile, Republican candidate Donald Trump talks mostly about increasing production of carbon-emitting oil and gas and suggests that sea level rise is good because it creates more oceanfront real estate (not knowing that his beloved Mar-a-Lago located in a flood plain on the Florida coast). porous bedrock).

Whether Asheville or Palm Beach, there are no climate paradises.

The great read

Nuclear power is gaining popularity – but will not replace fossil fuels any time soon

Microsoft’s recent announcement that it has signed a 20-year deal to purchase electricity from a decommissioned nuclear reactor at the infamous Three Mile Island site vividly illustrates a seismic shift in political attitudes toward nuclear energy. Of course, there was a partial meltdown of a nuclear reactor on Three Mile Island in 1979. There were no injuries or permanent damage.

Nevertheless, the accident unsettled the public and the construction of new nuclear power plants became politically radioactive. Attitudes are changing, not least because high-tech – once the epitome of anti-nuclear sentiment – ​​is a power guzzler and needs all the power it can get. However, this section of What’s Ahead points out that, given the oppressive regulation and time it takes to build such facilities, there is no quick energy rescue in sight.

Read more here

Hot topic

Washington Governor Jay Inslee on AI, clean energy and the climate crisis

How do you assess the connection between AI and climate and its benefits and risks?

I’m much more worried about natural stupidity than artificial intelligence, because there’s way too much of that happening right now. This is a double-edged sword because AI will support the clean energy revolution in many ways. It will help us decide which silicon anode battery is the most effective. It will contribute to the development of fusion. And by the way, I’m bragging about my state: We have three of the top merger firms in the United States within 10 miles of each other near Seattle, Washington.

AI can really help develop these things. Stopping the development of a system that can help you develop clean energy technologies is probably not a really good idea.

But if you look at the (energy) numbers, they are huge. They are absolutely massive. A large company in our state saw their goals reduced by approximately 30% due to AI requirements alone. We are facing this big challenge because I am having difficulty finding wind, storage and solar energy facilities just to power the AI ​​centers.

It is not difficult to find an AI center. Nobody has anything against it. It’s a black box. There is hardly anyone in the parking lot. They just sit there. But there are certainly objections to some of these other technologies. So we have to find a way to cite these clean energy projects in my book.

In my opinion, we will not stop the use of technology.

What else we read

“Weird Science”: Climate change is the focus of the vice presidential debate after the Helene disaster

An “elegant” idea could cost billions to protect trees in Brazil

Why isn’t the IRA more of a political winner for the Democrats?

Britain is closing its last coal-fired power station after 142 years

Where Americans are moving into disaster-prone areas

Pollution, wind, electric vehicles: Trump risks upending Biden’s climate work

When it comes to water, livestock farming is a much bigger problem than AI data centers

Electric vehicle owners in North Carolina use their cars to keep the lights on

SunZia, America’s largest renewable energy project, is almost complete. The remaining challenges – and the lessons learned

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